Niblett's Bluff in the War Between the States by Michael Dan Jones

This is the history of General Alfred Mouton's regiment, the 18th Louisiana Infantry, which he led throughout the War for Southern Independence, from Shiloh to Mansfield. Click on image for more information.

Confederate Guards Response Battalion

History of the one of the hardest fighting Louisiana units during the War for Southern Independence.

1st Louisiana Zouaves

This is the story of one of the most unique and famed Louisiana units in the War for Southern Independence, the 1st Louisiana Zouaves . Made up largely of foreigners from many countries, the men wore the gaudy French Zouave uniform and fought with a fierce determination for the new Southern Republic.

Dick Dowling and the Jefferson Davis Guard

This is the story of one of the most famous and celebrated Confederate units. Click on image for details.

Confederate States Rangers of the 10th Louisiana Infantry

Company K in the War for Southern Independence

Lt. Col. King Bryan of Hood's Texas Brigade

Freedom Fighter for Texas and Southern Independence

The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou by Michael Dan Jones

This is a concise history of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi from December 26-29, 1862. Also covered are the preliminary cavalry raids of generals Earl Van Dorn and Nathan Bedford Forrest. The book contains maps, photographs and illustrations, bibliography and index.

9th Battalion Louisiana Infantry

This is the history of the 9th Battalion Louisiana Infantry which fought at the Battle of Baton Rouge and the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana in the War for Southern Independence. The unit took part in the famous charge of Allen's Brigade at Baton Rouge. The men of the unit were fighting in defense of their own home area since most were from East Baton Rouge and nearby parishes. Click on image for more information.

Mouton's Charge at the Battle of Mansfield and the Red River Campaign

This is the story of the famous attack at the Battle of Mansfield, La., April 8, 1864, led by Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton.

The Vicksburg 28th Louisiana Infantry

Click picture for more information.

The Tiger Rifles: The Making of a Louisiana Legend

The Toughest Fighting Men in the Confederate Army

The Battle of Calcasieu Pass

A history of the May 6, 1864 battle in Southwest Louisiana between two Union gunboats and a diverse group of Confedrates. Click photo for more information.

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Friday, December 23, 2016

[The Richmond Daily Dispatch, Dec. 26, 1864]

Christmas 1864.

One of the most charming productions of Dickens in that "Christmas Carol," in which he tells of an old miser, Scrooge, whose cold nature was unlocked by the genial inferences of a certain Christmas, and who became thereafter the most benevolent and charitable of mankind. We wish that some of the persuasive visions of Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas to come, which worked such a wholesome influence upon the mind of the English miser, could make themselves left in the adamant natures of our Confederate Scrooges. Objects of compassion may be found at every step, in comparison with whose condition that of Bob Crotchett and Play Tim was happy and luxurious. We should like to know whether Christmas, which showers its bounties upon the heads of the extortioners and speculators, will melt their hearts towards their suffering fellow-men, or whether even the warm rain of Divine benevolence will freeze as it falls through such an icy temperature.

We can scarcely bring ourselves to wish our readers a merry Christmas in such an ere of selfishness and coldness of soul. The face of nature itself is not as dreary, the frozen streams are not as cold, as the hearts of men have been rendered-by the absorbing thirst of gain and gold. Beneath the hard crust of the earth lie buried those principles of life which will clothe its surface with the beauties of spring and the harvests of summer, and the imprisoned waters will soon break their icy chains and run-warm and sparkling in the sun's fervid rays. But what life is there in the soul cankered by the greed of gain? What spring shall cause the desert to blossom or the arctic ice to melt?

But even amidst the general corruption there remain some men who hold fast their integrity, and to them we appeal to celebrate this Christmas by deeds of extraordinary mercy and charity to the extraordinary sufferers by this war. In the hospitals and in the habitations of the poor are hundreds and thousands whose Christmas will be sad and solitary unless cheered by the visitations and benevolence of those whom Providence has made the objects of its blessing and the almoners of its bounty. Amid the solemn scenes of this awful struggle we can in no way celebrate Christmas so appropriately as in those acts of mercy and compassion which bless him that gives and him that receives. He that remembereth the poor will be remembered by God in his own time of trouble and affection.